Times Saturday 23838 (Feb 16)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – 12:17

Definitely one for the musical/arts mafia this week. Excellent puzzle though, nothing that required any specialist knowledge really.

Across

1 LEWIS,CAR,ROLL – I assume the first children’s author is C.S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia books.
9 (d)ORMER
10 DE(BE)NTURE – I’m not sure how a denture is supposed to be a securing device. It’s a set of false teeth, that’s all, and in Chambers can only be used in the plural.
11 CELIBACY – (a bicycle)*. Very deceptive anagram that took me a while to crack.
12 BARBER – ref. barbershop quartet etc. The composer is Samuel Barber, whose Adagio for Strings you’ve almost certainly heard before.
13 BAY,R(E)UTH – ref. the Bayreuth Festival, an annual month’s worth of Wagner operas.
17 AN(o)THER
18 MAD,RIGA,L – Riga being the capital of Latvia. Clever clue.
21 ESCHE(WE)R – another good’un. M.C. Escher is the “illusionist”, who was famous for his optical illusions, e.g. Waterfall.
24 STUPIDEST – PUTS rev, ID EST=that’s. Brilliant clue, almost doesn’t look like a cryptic clue at first glance.
25 PULSE – double def, the first one cryptic.
26 AS TIME GOES BY – You must remember this/A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh/The fundamental things apply/AS TIME GOES BY.

Down

1 LI(ON CU(e))B – got it from the def, worked out the wordplay later.
2 W,EMBLE(m),Y STADIUM(a tidy sum)* – nicely put together &lit. clue.
4 AB(DIC)ATE – DIC = CID rev.
5 R.U.,BY – I liked that: “Here, tries” for RU.
7 TUNBRIDGE WELLS – BRIDGE between TUN and WELLS. I don’t think this really works, with the second “container” in plural.
14 EDELWEISS (I,weedless)*
16 CAS(SET)TE
22 HIP,PO – in=HIP, PO is the ubiquitous Italian river. Reads like a straight clue though, bit of a giveaway.
23 CEDI – hidden in priCE DIscrimination.

9 comments on “Times Saturday 23838 (Feb 16)”

    1. Clue: To a great (or to a great big) extent? (7) Answer: LARGELY.

      I think the idea is that largely usually means “principally” – which ‘to great extent’ also means, but can also mean “on a large scale or in a large manner” which fits ‘great big’. So it’s a double def., though one that would be criticised by those who insist that the two defs must be for etymologically different words.

      1. Thanks, Peter. I wondered if had missed something a bit more devious than a double def – apparently not.
        Bill
  2. 5D is brilliant and took me several return visits to explain it though the answer itself was obvious once the checking letters were in place. 2D also stood out as a quality clue.

    I agree about 10A unless we are both missing something, but not about 7D as the clue says “between containers” so I can’t see anything wrong with having one container before “bridge” and an indeterminate number of containers after it.

  3. 7D: I think “make connection properly” is “bridge well” and the containers are just the “tuns”

    Orlando

    1. I think you’ve seen what the setter was driving at, though some might quibble whether ‘inside a word for containers’ is the same as ‘between containers’.
    2. Oh that’s good! I had been thinking of one of the containers being a “well” as in “ink-well”. But then PB’s point spoils it a bit. Shame.
  4. “HIP,PO – in=HIP, PO is the ubiquitous Italian river. Reads like a straight clue though, bit of a giveaway” — especially as “hippo-potamus” means “river horse”!

    ragaman

  5. Some very good clues and answer content in this one. As often happens my LOI is one of the seven “easies”. I may have a couple of these but still managed to get 8d last.

    15a Seconds before one carrying child is hit (6)
    S TRIKE

    20a Drop fleece inside dress (2,4)
    GO DO WN

    3d Wipe out vegetation (5)
    SCRUB

    6d Long, limp sounding flower in the house (9)
    LANC ASTER

    8d Bit of an academic achievement? (6)
    DEGREE

    17d Much sought-after element, wind, in summer (6)
    AU GUST

    19d To a great (or to a great big) extent? (7)
    LARGELY. Curious clue but, once there were a few checkers, the answer seemed easy enough.

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